D: If we have a celebration and if we have guests who request to eat instead of vegetarian, is it okay to offer them meat? My son is going to get married very soon and my in-laws are meat eaters. I understand from my future daughter-in-law that the parents would prefer that their guests, their relatives to be served meat. For my guest, I will offer only vegetarian. But I don’t like to offend them.

SM: You offer vegetarian. And the others, if they want meat, they offer the meat themselves.

You stay away from the blood. Keep your hands free of blood.

You offer vegetarian.

And if anybody want to eat meat, tell them they can bring their own meat.

The vegetarian diet is so delicious.

​There are ham, chicken, everything, people just would love to eat it. They don’t even know that it is vegetarian.

Remember the story about when I was a householder and married? I offered my neighbors always vegetarian food when they come to my house every weekend.

​And one time, my husband thinks: “Poor people, they eat vegetarian all the time. They should eat meat or else they die” or something.

And he bought some fish and meat and nobody want to eat it. Because they wanted vegetarian, because they loved it more. They say they like a change.So now, you can also suggest the same.

You say: “Okay, we eat meat everyday already. I’m going to deliver something more exiting, a new way of life, new menu, and exciting and very colorful, tasty, and you try all together one day.

Then see if you like it or not. And if you don’t like it. Well, the meat is waiting for you in your fridge when you go home anyway.”

And after all that, if they still don’t want it, they can bring their own meat, okay?

​​Marriage is very important. It’s a once in a lifetime of a person.

​In the Buddhist sutra, in the sutra of the Earth Store Bodhisattva, the Earth Store Bodhisattva say that if when the mother deliver babies and when you’re married or anything like that, people always killing animals to celebrate. ​That harms the couples a great deal and that harms a mother-to-be a great deal as well as a newborn child.

It is better always vegetarian.

It doesn’t incur bad retribution.

How can you be so happy, happy day and the marriage day is the most joyful day of your life and you go and murder some other being?

You should have let him live. He also wants to be happy. He should be rejoiced in your marriage and congratulate you in his heart. Why you cut his throat and eat it?

It’s a joy to be married.It’s a joyful day.

Everyone should enjoy and be joyful.

It’s not logical to kill somebody, make a misery when you are in the most happy day of your life. And suppose they want, they can bring their own meat.

You wash your hands clean of the blood.

​

​You have to influence people, not let people influence you.​From now, I want all of you to be more strong in your opinion. Stronger in your standpoint in life. You do not do what is not good and you know killing is no good. You stop it.

Stop where you are. Stop from your house.

Do not condone any more murdering. Do not condone any more cruelty. Do not encourage any more suffering to anybody whether directly or indirectly.

​Let peace begin with us. All right?It’s enough now that we follow all the trends in the society, just to look social and look like them. No.

We don’t want to look like them anymore.

We want them to look like us, because our way is nobler. It’s correct, it’s compassionate, it’s loving and it’s saving lives, and it will save the planet.

Do that.

You have to be strong now, because the planet depends on us, the planet depends on you, all lives on the planet depends on you. Okay?